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She squeezed his hand and spoke quietly as she held his gaze. ‘Let’s just do the only thing we can. Pray.’
His stomach gave a gentle flip as he nodded in agreement and looked back up at the sky. He pushed everything else away. Magda and the baby were all he could concentrate on right now. Anything else could wait.
CHAPTER THREE
July
PEOPLE WERE LOOKING at him a bit strangely, and he couldn’t quite work out why. And it wasn’t just the people he knew. Summer holidays had well and truly started and, as normal, the island’s population had grown, bringing a stream of holidaymakers with minor complaints and medical issues to the island’s GP surgery. This meant that he now had a whole host of strangers giving him strange sideways glances that turned into odd smiles.
It took one older lady with a chest infection to reveal the source.
‘You’re the handsome doc I saw on TV,’ she said.
‘What?’ He was sounding the woman’s chest at that point, paying attention to the auscultations of her lungs instead of to her voice.
She gave a loud tut then giggled. ‘You really don’t like that poor girl, do you?’
He pulled the stethoscope from his ears. ‘Excuse me?’
‘The pretty one. With the blonde hair. She looked shell-shocked by that death.’ The woman leaned over and patted his hand. ‘I’m sorry about your friend. How’s Mac?’
For a few moments, Rhuaridh was stunned. Then the penny dropped like a cannonball on his head.
‘You’ve seen the TV show?’ He hadn’t really paid attention to when it would air.
She grinned. ‘Yes. It was wonderful. Best episode of that series yet.’ She gave him a sideways glance and raised her eyebrows. ‘And, yep, it’s probably fair that they call you hot. But you really need to behave a bit better.’
He wasn’t really paying attention to all her words. ‘What do you mean—the death?’
She frowned at him, as though he were a little dense. ‘Your friend. The farmer.’
‘They showed that?’ He felt a surge of anger. How dared they?
The old woman shook her head. ‘Well, we didn’t really see anything much at all. Just a pair of feet. Nothing else. It was more about...’ she held her hands up to her crackly chest ‘...the feelings, the emotions. The love in the room.’ She gave a wicked little shrug. ‘And the tension. Like I said, you need to be nicer to that girl. She’s very pretty, you know. She looked as though she could have done with a hug.’
Rhuaridh sat back in his chair. He was stunned. He’d kind of thought the TV show would only be shown in other countries—not this one. He hadn’t expected people he met to have seen it. And he wasn’t happy they’d shown the events at John Henderson’s house.
The old woman sat back and folded her hands in her lap. ‘Mind you, you brought a tear to my eye when you took Mac home with you. How is he, anyway? You didn’t answer.’
It was almost like he was being told off. It seemed that parts of his life were now open to public view and scrutiny. Part of him wanted to see the episode—to check it didn’t betray John Henderson’s memory. But part of him dreaded to see himself on screen. It seemed like he might not have done himself any favours. His insides cringed. ‘Mac’s good,’ he said on autopilot as his brain continued to whirl. ‘He’s settled in well.’
The old woman gave another tut and looked at him as though he didn’t really know what he was doing. ‘Well, are you going to write me a prescription or not? Erythromycin, please. It always works best.’
Rhuaridh picked up his prescription pad and pen. This was going to be a long, long day.
* * *
The boat was packed to the brim. There was literally not a single seat to be had, and it was lucky someone at the production company had pre-booked their car space and their rental. ‘What is it?’ said Gerry. ‘Has the whole of mainland Scotland decided to visit the island at once?’
‘Feels like it,’ muttered Kristie as she was jostled by a crowd of holidaymakers. At least the sun was high in the sky and she’d remembered to take her sea sickness tablets.
She leaned on the rail as the ferry started to dock. ‘The reception’s been good hasn’t it?’
Gerry nodded. ‘I’ve not seen this much excitement in a while. And once they’ve seen the second episode? I think people will go crazy.’
Kristie blew out a long breath. The next episode was due to air in a few weeks. It was ironic really. The first episode had been all about death, and now the second was all about life. They’d improvised. Once they’d left the island, instead of heading straight back to Glasgow airport, they’d driven to the local maternity unit where they’d got Magda’s permission to capture a scene with a beautiful healthy baby girl and two relieved, smiling parents. Even Kristie couldn’t hide the tears at that point. But it had captured the story perfectly, and would give the viewers the happy ending they would all crave.
‘What about me?’ she asked Gerry. ‘And what about him, what if he sees me saying I hate him?’ Her stomach twisted uncomfortably. The producer had insisted on keeping all those elements in, saying the dynamics between her and Rhuaridh Gillespie were TV gold.
Gerry waved his hand as the gangplank was lowered and people started filing off the boat. ‘I doubt he’s seen it. And if he has? Too bad.’
They made their way down to the car. The car storage area was hot and claustrophobic. Gerry shrugged off his jacket and tugged at his shirt. ‘You okay?’ she asked.
He nodded. ‘Just get me out into the fresh air.’
The plans were a little different this time. They’d agreed to focus more on Rhuaridh’s role at the hospital rather than his role at the GP surgery. It seemed harsh, but if they hadn’t had the drama with the delivery for the last episode things might have been a little dry.
But for the first day they were going to do some background filming around the hospital. Kristie wasn’t sure how that would work out. Or how interesting it would be. At least this time she felt a little prepared and didn’t dread it quite so much.
But she shouldn’t have worried. The seventeen patients in the cottage hospital were delighted to see her and participate in the filming. She met an army war veteran who had dozens of naughty stories that had her wiping tears from her eyes. She met a young girl who was in the midst of cancer treatment who’d come down with an infection and was bribing the hospital kitchen staff to make her chocolate pancakes. She interviewed the hospital porter, who was eighty and refused to retire. She met a biker who’d come off his bike and fractured his femur. But he’d timed it just as a visiting orthopaedic consultant was doing his monthly clinic on Arran, so had had his surgery performed in the equipped theatre a few hours later.
All this filming without having to deal with Dr Grumpy—as Kristie had nicknamed him.
* * *
They’d arranged filming for a little later the next day as they’d been warned the local A and E could be quieter in the mornings. As they pulled up in the hospital car park they could already spot Rhuaridh’s car—along with a whole host of others. ‘I take it Friday afternoon is a busy time,’ said Gerry as they got out of the car.
Kristie shrugged. ‘We’re trying to get away from the mundane. He’s on call all weekend, so maybe we’ll get something unusual.’
As they walked inside Gerry almost tripped. The waiting room was almost as busy as yesterday’s ferry. He smiled. ‘We might be lucky.’
Kristie looked around. ‘Let’s interview a few of the people waiting,’ she said. The waiting room was full of a range of people. There looked like a whole host of bumps and breaks. A few kids had large eggs on their foreheads, others were holding arms a little awkwardly. Legs were on chairs, and some people were sleeping.
It didn’t take long for Rhuaridh to spot them in the waiting room. His perpetual frown creased his forehead, then it was almost like h
e realised that had happened and he pushed his shoulders back and forced a smile on to his face. ‘Kristie, Gerry, come through.’
The normally relatively quiet A and E department was buzzing inside. Names were written on a whiteboard, with times next to them. Three nurses and one advanced nurse practitioner were dealing with patients in the various cubicles.
The charge nurse, June, gave Kristie and Gerry a rundown of what was happening. She motioned to a set of rooms. ‘Welcome to the conveyor belt.’
‘What do you mean?’
